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The scale can be one of your most important tools on your weight loss journey, but only if you use it right. Surprisingly enough, using the scale right can take more than a bit of planning, just like many other aspects of your weight loss surgery journey. The number you see can jump around and start to drive you crazy if you do not know the reasons behind the blips. These are some reasons for some ups and downs on the scale, and how to prevent or at least accept them. Hint: It is probably not yet panic time! Up: Salt (Sodium) Did you have a salty meal last night? Did you snack on pickles, top your chicken with salsa, season your turkey burger with soy sauce or another salty condiment, or help yourself to a big salad with fat-free dressing? Those are all great choices for weight loss, but not for today’s weight. Are you confused? Here is the explanation. Sodium, which we mainly get from salt in foods, has no calories and is one way to add flavor without fat or sugar to food so you can keep calories down for weight loss, But, sodium attracts water. Eat a high-sodium meal or snack, and your body can retain water. You may feel bloated and notice your ankles or fingers swelling. That water inside of you is heavy, and the scale will tell you so. Tip: Do not eat a high-sodium or salty meal or snack the day before your weigh-in, or keep in mind that you did. Up: Stress Long-term, stress eating can add fat to your hips and pounds to the scale. Short-term stress can bump up your weight, too, without overeating. Stress hormones lead to water retention and (see above) water is heavy. Tip: Don’t stress out! Easier said than done, but being aware of stress can help. So can exercising, laughing with friends, and meditating. Up: Big Meal, Day, or Weekend Remember the part about how sodium attracts water? So do extra sugar and carbohydrates. It takes an extra 3,500 calories to gain a pound of body fat, but y you are likely to see your weight jump if you eat a big meal, or have a cheat day, or get out of control on the weekend. That sodium and those carbs can add up more quickly than you expect. A single restaurant meal with rolls or breadsticks, a burger and fries, and a small dessert can have over 5,000 mg of sodium and 200 grams of carbohydrates. That amount may “only” include 2,000 calories (barely over ½-lb’s worth of body fat), but it is enough to bump the scale up as much as a few pounds the next day. Tip: Do not eat too much! If you do have a cheat meal or day, do not weigh in after it. Most people consider Mondays to be a bad day for a weigh-in because weekend diets are often less strict than weekday eating patterns. Up: Lack of Sleep Do you ever feel groggy and heavy when you do not get enough sleep? The scale will confirm that it is not your imagination. You can retain water due to hormonal shifts when you do not sleep enough. Over the longer term, sleep deprivation can make you gain “real” weight (body fat) because lack of sleep: Increases ghrelin, which is a hormone that makes you feel hungry. Increases cravings for sugar and carbohydrates. Reduces your ability to resist cravings. Tip: Get enough sleep. It is not a luxury that is beyond your control. It is an important part of your weight loss lifestyle, so make it a priority. Down: Dehydration Weight loss is one motivation to exercise, but losing too much weight with a single workout just means you are dehydrated, not that you burned off pounds of fat in an hour or so. The scale can show you a low number because you sweated a lot. It can be motivating, but it is not healthy. Dehydration can lead to fatigue and to later water retention – and a bump up on the scale! Tip: drink 8 oz. of water every 20 minutes while you are exercising intensely. Weigh yourself before and after your workout, and drink 16 ounces of water for each pound that you lost during your workout. Down: Sudden weight loss Have you ever started a diet and seen the pounds come off quickly at first before the weight loss tapered off? It may have even happened after WLS if you were one of those patients who lost 10 or 20 lb. within the first weeks. A good portion of that weight was water weight. It happens when your body shifts from gaining weight (or being stable) to losing weight. What happens is that your body loses carbohydrates that were stored in the form of glycogen. Glycogen holds water. When you lose the glycogen suddenly by going low-carb or low-calorie, you lose water, too. So, your scale weight drops fast. Tip: Celebrate those first pounds lost, but keep working hard. Stick to your diet and stay hydrated so the pounds keep coming off for weeks and months to come. Now that you know that the scale can be fickle, you can concentrate on finding the balance between trusting the scale and trusting your diet. If you stay on track with your eating and workout program, and take care of the “little things” such as getting enough sleep and managing stress, you can outlast any bumps on the scale and come out stronger and lighter than ever.

If so you might be an EMPATH. An empath is a person with the ability to sense the mental or emotional state of another individual. An empath can psychically feel the emotions, feelings, energy and even thoughts of others. A few common traits of an empath: Highly intuitive Emotionally sensitive (often labeled by others as “overly sensitive” or “too emotional”) Can feel in their own bodies the emotions of others Often absorb other people’s energy Frequently feels overwhelmed in crowds Typically have accurate initial gut feelings about people/situations Need a lot of alone time Have big hearts and can be taken advantage of Because they can see and sense problems (and what needs to be done to resolve them) in other people’s lives they often feel responsible to fix them. What’s all this got to do with food? If you are an empath there is a good chance you are not using food to manage YOUR energy but to manage OTHER PEOPLE’s energy. It’s like you are psychic/energy sponge who absorbs other people’s energy throughout the day, whether it be the co-worker who is cranky, the happy giggly girl in line at Target, your good friend who is going through a break up, or the heated political debates on television. When you unknowingly absorb these energies you can be left feeling anxious, drained, depressed, overwhelmed, and even confused by the end of what seemed to be a normal, productive ‘uneventful’ day. Such feelings can be a trigger to overeat. If you are familiar with emotional eating you KNOW that overeating is a good way to escape or calm such emotions. So what’s an empath to do to stop from picking up and taking on everyone else’s emotions? Start to notice energy. Notice how you feel in different situations, around various people. Connect to your body: does your body feel calm and relaxed around this person or uptight and anxious, do you have a knot in your stomach, are your shoulders scrunched, do you feel the need to be defensive, or do you feel calm and safe? Notice how you feel in a cluttered room vs. a bare room, how you feel listening to different music, how you feel when you wear certain colors, etc. Protect your energy; before you leave the house in the morning imagine yourself being protected by a sparkly white or golden bubble and the only thing that can penetrate this bubble is love and healing energy, no negative energy can get through this beautiful circle of light. If you’ve been around someone who’s uptight anxious or angry literally brush their energy off your body with your hand. Hold your hands about and inch away from your body and brush around your head, down your opposite arms, down your chest stomach and legs. Or even just shaking your hands down by your side with the intent of shaking off their energy can help. If you are in a conversation with someone who is angry or anxious you can imagine you are behind a one way mirror and everything they say just bounces right back to them, or imagine you are wearing a suit of teflon and everything they say just slides right off. Stretch your body (we hold emotions in our muscles… when you stretch it helps release stored emotions). Spend time in nature. Walk barefoot in the grass. Take a bath in epsom salt. Create a transition ritual for when come home from an event, or work, or school, etc. It can be something like deciding to change your shirt and while changing your shirt ask that any energies that you've absorbed that are not yours be released saying ”I now release any energies that I may have absorbed that are not mine. I send them to be transmuted to light and love and sent back to their rightful owner!” Spend time near water. Meditate. I am seeing this more and more in my practice that energy sensitive people often struggle with food or some other addiction as a way to manage all the intense emotions of the world these days. If this article resonates with you it is important to understand that this is very real and that you begin to truly honor your intuition and energy sensitivities. Then set out to learn positive self nurturing rituals to protect and heal you own energy. I will be offering Zoom groups to discuss emotional eating, eating as a reflection of self love and respect, and learning to notice and protect your energy. If you have any questions or comments do not hesitate to contact me!

It takes a lot of work for you prepare for and recover from weight loss surgery, and to continue to lose weight and get healthy. With all that focus on yourself, it sounds strange that you could be neglecting yourself, but it often happens. If you do not work on strengthening your self-respect, self-confidence, and self-love, you may not be as successful in your weight loss surgery journey. Here are some easy tips for building a little rapport with the most important person in your life: you. Recognize Your Greatness You would do everything you could to recognize the good things about someone else if you were building a relationship with them, and you can do the same for yourself to build your relationship with yourself. It can take some practice to get into the habit of recognizing your good qualities and your good choices, so get started! Don’t forget to appreciate: Every milestone, whether a weight loss milestone or a non-scale victory. Each good decision you make, such as packing a lunch instead of leaving it to chance. How energized and proud you feel after eating right and exercising. Your new inner strength for recognizing what’s important – your health – and setting aside what’s not – a few moments of short-lived gratification when you visit the drive-through. Your efforts and resolution – because what you are doing is not easy! Reward yourself when you deserve it Little gifts can make your appreciation seem sincerer, and motivate you to keep up the good work. Give yourself treats regularly to reward yourself for any progress you made, or “just because.” A night curled up with a box of pizza is no longer an option, but there are plenty of far better ways to show yourself “I love me!” A massage or spa treatment. New workout clothes or other new clothes. A new app or fitness monitor to motivate you and show your progress. A morning sleeping in. Getting your house cleaned. A makeover or parts of one, such as a new haircut or different color nail polish. Be Your Biggest Supporter Consider what a supporter does, and figure out how you can be your own biggest one. It can take some effort, such as planning ahead to pave the way for healthier choices, such as packing breakfast the night before so you do not go through the drive-through, keeping a pair of walking shoes in the car so you can grab a walk anywhere whenever you have time, and putting each of your surgeon appointments and support group meetings on your calendar so you cannot forget. A supporter is also your biggest advocate. Speak up for yourself when needed, whether it is to tell the server at the restaurant that you need smaller portions and you would like the sauce on the side, or whether it is to tell your mother that you are doing this surgery for yourself because you need to. Your advocacy may include being firm with the surgeon about your preference for the surgery type you want. Don’t Deprive Yourself Telling yourself “no” constantly is no way to build a loving relationship! Grow the love by giving yourself treats. Just make sure they are on your diet. You might end the day with some Protein Cocoa or Chocolate Caramel Crispy Bites, sneak in some BBQ Zippers for an afternoon crunch, or greet the weekend with Protein Pancakes and a Protein Omelet. There are plenty of recipes online for healthy alternatives to favorite comfort foods from pizza and fried chicken to ice cream and brownies. Balance Tough Love with Forgiveness Honesty is the foundation for any strong relationship, including this one. Call yourself out when you make a decision you’re not proud of or you find yourself slipping into a slump where the scale starts creeping up or sweets start sneaking their way into your diet. At the same time, realize that you will not be perfect, and accept that fact. Develop a plan for when you catch yourself off track. Your plan will probably include recognizing your mistakes, forgiving yourself forb them, considering what led you to make them, and resolving to fix them. Build a stronger relationship with yourself, and you are setting yourself up for better success in the short and long terms. It takes some practice, but the results are well worth it.